Cofer, Judith Ortiz. "The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria." The Blair Reader: exploring issues and ideas. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2014. Print. Judith Ortiz Cofer is a poet, writer, and professor at the University of Georgia. In her essay, Cofer discusses some of the stereotypes that Latina women are commonly associated with. For example, Latinas are sex objects, are uneducated, and are maids or maids. According to Cofer, these typical stereotypes are perpetuated by “mixed cultural signals” because the media portrays Latin American women with these stereotypes. However, this “myth” is not true for all Latina women. Cofer claims she was once mistaken for a waitress during her first public poetry reading. Cofer also explains that Latinas are seen as sexual icons because of their choice of clothing, but their choice of clothing “is custom, not chromosomes” (310); their mothers, who grew up wearing skin-revealing clothes to stay cool and look sexy, influenced their clothing decisions. I plan ...